The present invention relates to memory garbage collection. More particularly, the present invention relates to hardware off-load garbage collection acceleration for languages that include finalizers, such as Java® or other garbage collected languages that include finalizers.
Conventional memory garbage collection is performed by a processor to determine memory allocations that are no longer needed by the processor. A processor executes an algorithm, known as a garbage collection algorithm, to identify the memory allocations that it no longer needs. Examples of garbage collection algorithms include a mark and sweep garbage collection algorithm and a reference counting garbage collection algorithm.